1985 325e....Fair selling price?

[Moose King]

Hey folks.


Brand new to the forum, apologize in advance for any newbie behavior here. :o


I obtained a beautiful 325e from a local guy outside of Middlebury, VT. The car is originally from Canada. Was shipped out here from Washington state about 10 years ago and garage kept during the winters. My plan was to keep it as an e30 has been on my bucket list for as long as I can remember. Some things have changed and we're moving back to Oregon. Shipping isn't an option as I have some other vehicles that take precedence.


My question in short.....what would be a fair price to either sell outright or throw on ebay with a no reserve type auction?


Car is 100% stock. 170k miles on car, roughly 35k on motor rebuild. 5 speed. Every power option on the car works perfectly. All gauges work, odometer, etc. The front seats could stand to be replaced. They have held up the worst out of the entire car. The rest of the interior is in excellent shape. No dash cracks or fading. Driver side rear quarter was replaced at some point before my ownership. You cannot tell unless you look in the trunk, the inside was left unpainted. I have most of the records from maintenance throughout it's life.


It's going in for a respray and to address a few little dings it's acquired from daily use. I have another set of stock wheels...the ones on it were painted when I bought it. Poorly.

I'm a car guy but not unrealistic when it comes to selling them. I've looked around at similar examples both better and worse and have a ballpark in mind...would really like input though from people that live and breathe it daily. I can get some additional pictures if they are requested. Thanks for reading.

[Reichart12]

As sits I could see 2-3k depending on how long you want to hang on to it based off that picture. I paid 2 for mine which had new tires on bottlecaps and a great houndstooth interior. My paint was kinda beat on the hood and roof though.

I cant see the paint quality that much but if youre planning to sell maybe a professional detail job would be worth more in value than a respray. Your color is single stage so the shine really comes back to it with a bit of work.

With sparkling paint and depending on how worn your interior is I would even change my price to 2.8-3.5k depending on urgency. I also may be a little cheap so hopefully someone else throws their thought in too.

[Moose King]

I'm really not in a rush. We move end of the year but have learned from past experience not to wait till the last minute when selling things like this lol. The interior is next to perfect...the front seats are really the big issue. Some rips. Not very pretty.

Doing a respray on it because the paint is too far gone to have it detailed where it would show any better. Normal areas I guess you could say, hood and roof like yours...some other areas.

The plan was to keep it so I've already bought the paint and materials. I'm having a shop do it as no matter how good I think I am....I'm not a professional. I know the owner so it makes it affordable. I'm already one foot in the grave with it regarding paint.

It needs tires badly so those are also on the way.

I appreciate your feedback. I was thinking around the $3500 mark myself after paint and tires are up to snuff.

[doorman]

I paid $1500 for my 86 325e Jan last year. She has approx 400,000 miles on her. Most everything worked when I bought her. I've put approx $1500 in parts since then, and have had many offers between $2000-$3000 for her. My FIL is first in line for $2500!

[Moose King]

Thanks for the input.

Doing my rounds online I've seen "similar" cars to mine going between 3k-4k. 4k being the high end admittedly.

I've had a few offers also just in passing. Our shop is in a high traffic area sort of so it helps.

[Reichart12]

Even if you can find HR sport springs for a deal I think that would add a good value to it. Most first time e30 owners with a 325e budget would jump on a car that already has a slight drop.

[Moose King]

I might look into that. Wheels are coming off anyway and HR springs are pretty reasonable. I fall into this bracket where I make no money on the stuff I sell in the end haha! Have to have a hobby though right? Thanks again for the input.

[c0rbin9]

I wouldn't consider offers from people who see the outside of the car for 10 seconds and pull a number out of their ass a legitimate offer.

Recently, I was looking at a non-E30 car with almost 400,000 miles on it that the guy wanted too much money for. His reasoning was that somebody had offered him $5000 for it a few months prior. No doubt that wasn't a serious offer as the person has no info about the car.

[Moose King]

No I don't take most as legitimate, I rarely even post anything for sale on CL for that matter....that's why I'm asking for some input from people that are versed in this area of the auto world. I agree with you though.....it's much like people making offers on cars over the internet or asking what's the lowest you'll take for a car before you even meet them in person or they see it.

[doorman]

No I don't take most as legitimate, I rarely even post anything for sale on CL for that matter....that's why I'm asking for some input from people that are versed in this area of the auto world. I agree with you though.....it's much like people making offers on cars over the internet or asking what's the lowest you'll take for a car before you even meet them in person or they see it.

Mine never made it to CL when I bought it. 81 yr old guy gave it to his mechanic to sell for him. Mechanics brother posted a forum add and I scooped it up!

If I was in your shoes I'd look into your local BMW CCA chapter website to list it for sale. Use their FB page as well. CL will attract a wider market but you'll deal with spam/low ball offers.

[Moose King]

Mine never made it to CL when I bought it. 81 yr old guy gave it to his mechanic to sell for him. Mechanics brother posted a forum add and I scooped it up!

If I was in your shoes I'd look into your local BMW CCA chapter website to list it for sale. Use their FB page as well. CL will attract a wider market but you'll deal with spam/low ball offers.

That's an option, thanks for the heads up. I've had some friends reach out to me knowing that I'm moving and asking to keep them in the loop so I'm sure it'll go pretty easy which is fortunate. I like to have a back up though as who knows where people will be in 7-8 months....not like I'm looking to make a killing on it but still.

[Stanley Rockafella]

Shit, I still can't believe that these things are commanding prices higher than those of more current cars with air bags and ABS etc. I thought only e30 m3/s would get the lovin'

[Moose King]

Shit, I still can't believe that these things are commanding prices higher than those of more current cars with air bags and ABS etc. I thought only e30 m3/s would get the lovin'

I was under the impression from those I've spoke with that the 325e wasn't all that desirable the e30 realm compared to other models......interesting.

[e30onBBSs]

I was under the impression from those I've spoke with that the 325e wasn't all that desirable the e30 realm compared to other models......interesting.

They surely aren't as desirable as an i car but a clean e30 regardless of engine is valuable.

[Moose King]

They surely aren't as desirable as an i car but a clean e30 regardless of engine is valuable.

After talking to a few friends I'm having more folks tell me to ship the car and keep it....once it gets resprayed I know I'm going to have serious sleepless nights debating the issue.

The car runs better than newer cars I've owned with half the mileage and half the age. I'm really impressed. Oil change on it was the easiest I've encountered yet. It's been a really positive experience thus far...until something breaks and I curse at it in my driveway lol!